Towns bans kids 12 years and older from trick-or-treating...

[cynatnite]

Have you ever looked out your peephole and felt scared of a trick-or-treater? You're not alone. Mayor Mark Eckhert of Belleville, Ill., says he's heard a ton of complaints from frightened single mothers and senior citizens who are less than happy about the “6-foot-tall kids” that ring their doorbells on Halloween. His solution: To create an ordinance banning high-school teenagers—that is, anyone over the age of 12—from trick-or-treating.

"When I was a kid my father said to me, 'You're too damn big to be going trick-or-treating. You're done,’" Eckhert told ABC News. "When that doesn't happen, then that's reason for the city governments to intervene."

Intervening, in this case, means putting an age limit on trick-or-treaters, and threatening the over-12 set with a $100 fine for those who ignore the law—though, according to ABC, that fine has rarely, if ever, been actually meted out. And while some residents of Belleville have complained about the ordinance, it seems that many more are relieved. Trick-or-treat age limits have also been popular in townships in South Carolina, Mississippi, Maryland, and Virginia.

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/momentsofmotherhood/how-old-is-too-old-for-trick-or-treating-2403664/

[BolivarianHero]

1. Jesus fucking Christ

Set it to 14 or 15...This isn't something that governments should be regulating.

[pipi_k]

8. If the government shouldn't be regulating it...

then who, exactly, gets to "set it at 14 or 15"?



anyway, if residents are scared to open the door to very tall trick or treaters, and they're also afraid if they don't, their property will be damaged in some way, then I guess the older kids will have to suffer the unimaginable horror of (GASP!!!!) having to attend an actual party or something...with kids their own age...

:cry:

[HuckleB]

24. There should be no age limit, period.

[jp11]

32. Exactly.

[snooper2]

44. exactly, then it can be left to the homeowners

Like me..

10th, 11th, 12th graders shouldn't be out trick or treating...They each get one breathmint when the come to the door (which usually happens late at night anyway- and we are out of the good stuff by then :) )

What they SHOULD be doing is driving around shooting paintball guns at random targets and have a car full of waterballoons. (Sorry to the girl who sitting on the steps in front of her house Halloween night, 1993, in Fenton MO :P. That was us in the blue '71 4-door Buick Skylark)

[SheilaT]

2. Fer chrissakes. People could

use a little common sense. There are some pretty tall 11 year olds out there. And some pretty short 18 year olds. So a short 15 year old can get away with trick-or-treating, but a tall 11 year old better watch it.

I never mind the older kids coming to my door. I have certainly never felt threatened by any of them. Of course, the littlest kids tend to be the most adorable, but let them trick or treat until age 14. It keeps them from going out and doing other mischief.

[la la]

3. dang-

i'm only 4'10", so i could go out in costume and might score lots o candy----'course, i am 70--so i don't know which side of the age banning i would come in on....

[TwilightGardener]

4. "Relieved"--really, we're that scared of kids over 12 now?

Lots of teens just like to hang out and walk around the neighborhood together--my kids did this, went to houses of people they knew for a little candy. Better that than TP'ing your trees and egging garages when everyone's sleeping.

[Jefferson23]

5. This reminds me of Adam Sandler's old Halloween skit, " Give me some candy" LOL

For the older crowd that now includes anyone over 12 in Belleville, Illinois:



adam sandler cheap halloween costumes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmjM1GWB61Y

[demmiblue]

6. Some older children accompany their younger siblings.

Not to mention the fact that older looking children may not be as old as you think they are.

I personally could care less how old trick-or-treaters are.

[HuckleB]

23. Apparently not in Belleville.

Fear rules the city!

[Brickbat]

7. This is bizarre.

[TlalocW]

9. In the past when I've had kids who were too old come to my door

(especially if they weren't in costume) I've either insisted that they sing, "Pumpkin Carols," or I give them cans of vegetables as their treat.

TlalocW

[Xithras]

46. I used to give older kids apples.

And not the kind you plug into the wall. I had to stop when a couple of smartasses pelted my house with them.

Nowadays we just go to the dollar store and pick up some cheap goodies for the older kids. Last year we gave them glow sticks.

Halloween is about having fun. I'm not into refusing people their fun just because they hit some arbitrary age.

[Stevenmarc]

10. If you have a problem with who comes to the door then don't open your fucking door

Does this really need legislation.

[pipi_k]

15. Yeah, that works if you're not elderly...

and don't have problems worrying about what some disgruntled trick or treater might do to your home if you DON'T open the door.


I mean, I can see where people would think it's probably going a little overboard, but geez...do people really need to express such disgust for others who have real problems with fear?

That's just really uncool and unkind.



Trick or treating isn't a "right". It's not like needing to take a plane and being subjected to all sorts of intrusive searches or whatever because there's a culture of fear.

[HuckleB]

25. FEAR! FEAR! FEAR! FEAR!

Yes, we know you're afraid. You posted your fear all over the first thread about this issue.

:eyes:

[Stevenmarc]

41. Really?

Are the elderly obligated to open a door every time a doorbell rings? My father's 83, he apparently didn't get that memo, but then again age didn't erode his common sense or his free will.

As far as the fear thing goes for people, sorry the world doesn't revolve around them and no amount of legislation actually erases their underlying issues it only mitigates a trigger.

[shanti]

20. exactly!

turn your dang front porch light off and be done with it - problem solved. that is the universal halloween message, AFAIK. i've done that for the past 10 years and nobody's egged my car or anything.

[saltpoint]

11. A crisp fall night, hanging out with your pals, a bagful

of candy, and an event that encourages imaginative play.

Hell, let 'em go out trick'r'treating whether they're 12 or 112.

It's a great holiday.

I would, however, support a strict ban on assholes for town councils.

[Drale]

12. "puts on tinfoil hat"

Well with all the radiation that Bush and his croonies allowed into our water, soon their will be 6 foor 9 year olds.
:tinfoilhat: (PS. I always wanted to use that smiley:) now I can)

[pipi_k]

13. so anyway...

People who aren't now, and have never been, scared of teenagers think other people shouldn't be, either.

sigh...

[shanti]

22. a couple of my sons

had their bags snatched by teens. it happens. also, i keep my cats inside from now until halloween. one of them is a black cat, so better safe than sorry.

[guitar man]

14. By the time we hit 12-13

Trick or treating was passé anyway. We moved on to tossing eggs and tp and setting up flaming fudge bags! :D

[pipi_k]

16. Around these parts it was called "Cabbage Night"

well, when my kids were teenagers, anyway...

In my parental ignorance, I wondered, why the hell are kids throwing heads of cabbage around on Halloween (or the night before)...


:7

[guitar man]

17. Ooh, stinky cabbage

I like it! :D

we used to bury our eggs a couple weeks before haloween so they would be nice and rotten :evilgrin:

[niyad]

18. umm, eckhert? TEENAGE starts when you are THIRTEEN, not twelve.

seriously, if you are going to have laws like this, at least be accurate. and, if I remember correctly, high school is generally around 14, not 12.

[Radical Activist]

19. You can't outlaw stupid.

And it's usually a waste of time trying.

[redirish28]

21. First off I know some 12 year olds who are very tall second of all are

going to fine the adults escorting children because they decided to do "a family thing--get dressed up with the kids"?


My wife knows of two of her friends that get dressed up to thake the kids out.


Honestly if people are so afraid to open the doors don't hand out candy.

[HuckleB]

26. Yup. -eom-

[woo me with science]

27. Jerks. nt

[Matariki]

28. That's such an awkward age

- the desire to act grown up, sometimes even tough, and yet a bit of reluctance to let go of childhood - especially childhood rituals like trick or treating. We should be patient and remember what it was like, not criminalize normal behavior.

Sheesh.

[HuckleB]

29. Some good DU comments on this issue can be found here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9373954

[devilgrrl]

30. There was a unwritten rule in our neighborhood about kids over 12 trick-or-treating.

Doing it at age 13 was totally looked down upon.

It was a good rule, glad to see it back.

[HuckleB]

34. BS.

[devilgrrl]

35. Not BS. BS is teenagers trick-or-treating.

eom

[Occulus]

38. I went trick-or-treating when I was 14 and had a lot of fun.

Sorry to hear you say it was BS. I guess there's always someone somewhere angry that kids are having fun.

[devilgrrl]

39. 14 and trick-or-treating? Isn't that for little kids?

eom

[HuckleB]

48. Not in the real world, it's not.

Sheesh.

[devilgrrl]

53. Looks like the "real world" needs to grow up.

And for the record, anyone over the age of 12 that trick or treats is a dweeb. They would have been laughed at when I was a kid.

[HuckleB]

55. Thank you for proving my point.

It's not the kids who are enjoying themselves that need to grow up. It's the kids who think they're grown up, but think that being grown up means making fun of kids who are grown up enough to still have fun.

[HuckleB]

47. No, it's not.

BS is telling teenagers they can't trick or treat.

Read Ray Bradbury's "Halloween Tree," in which there are nine boys aged 13 who go trick-or-treating. There was nothing wrong with it then, and there's nothing wrong with it now.

[Arkansas Granny]

40. I won't say that it was an unwritten rule, but when I was a kid trick-or-treating

was pretty much for the little kids. It was considered kind of childish for teens to be going door to door unless they were shepherding younger siblings.

[HuckleB]

49. The real truth is that what was childish was those who deemed it childish.

It's all an act.

[devilgrrl]

56. So basically what you're saying is that you're going Trick or Treating this year?

Well don't let me stop you from having fun.

[efhmc]

31. We always had the older "kids" coming after our little ones

were back in and going to bed. I loved their last minute, pick anything we can find, put together costumes. They were obviously just after candy (or perhaps not really ready to give up the fun experience of trick or treating) which if I had any left, I was happy to get rid of. They were as much a part of the whole event as the tinies who came before the sun set. Have a little joy people and stop trying to micromanage everyone's lives.

[elocs]

33. Trick-or-treating is not what it once was anyways.

As far as government regulation goes, there are many who believe there is nothing wrong with telling those who need food stamps what foods they can or cannot purchase with them, but only for their own good after all by those who know best.

[seabeyond]

36. i was going to say, back in the day, the parent told kids no. we get lots of treaters.... after 9

we get lots of BIG treaters, with no costume out for candy. ridiculous. up to 11 they are ringing bell. i dont like it either. law??? but still, it is not good

[hedgehog]

37. Some people really, really, really hate Trick-orTreat - they have to

give other people something and get absolutely nothing in return!


Another common complaint is that kids who live out on rural roads in the county come into town to go trick-or-treating. How dare they!

[dana_b]

45. that's ridiculous

what are those kids supposed to do - trick or treat with the chickens?

this whole thing is ludicrous to me. I understand if people don't want to answer the door - then don't. Turn off the lights and go watch t.v. in the bedroom.

[LeftinOH]

42. Young children are (ususally) accompanied by adults; teenagers who are trick-or-treating

are usually in (loud) groups by themselves.. at least they are in my neighborhood. And, I get to spend the next morning picking up **many** empty candy wrappers and chunks of smashed pumpkins.

There ARE some neighborhoods in which rampaging hordes of boisterous teenagers on Halloween can make the evening unbearable, and my neighborhood is one of them.

[LawnLover]

43. Get a fucking life. nt

[Scout]

50. when i was a teenager, we wouldn't be caught dead trick or treating....

that was for the little kids.

i might have gone when i was 12, remotely possible i went when i was 13, but i know i didn't go when i was in 9th grade and higher.

trick or treat is for the little kids, older kids had parties or went out soaping windows/tp the trees. our group didn't get into the egg throwing or flaming poo bags ... just the harmless stuff.

one year we drew soap pictures on the windows of the elementary school :-)

[GreenPartyVoter]

57. We went trick or treating. Liked the dressing up part the most but the candy was cool. And since

we only went to houses of people who knew us, no one was scared of us. :D

[AngryOldDem]

51. This is purely a local issue.

If a particular community wants to set an age limit on kids, then so be it. But then the question becomes how to enforce it.

I can perfectly understand why some would not like to see a handful of older kids show up at their door. My mom is one; as far as I know she no longer hands out candy. Hell, **I** don't partiularly care to see teens, either.

But I go even further -- just get rid of it altogether. It's just not worth the expense (candy is not cheap for some), the worry (what else is in the candy, and should I take my kids' haul down to the nearest medical clinic to get x-rayed?), and the risk (more kids than I can count show up at my door, at night, wearing totally black costumes).

It's one of those "traditions" that just needs to die.

[HuckleB]

52. That is one fear-filled response!

Try reality: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lenore-skenazy/as-goes-halloween-so-goes_b_340163.html

[HuckleB]

54. As Goes Halloween, So Goes Childhood

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lenore-skenazy/as-goes-halloween-so-goes_b_340163.html

"...

It's not that I'm cavalier about safety. I'm just a sucker -- so to speak -- for the facts. And the fact is: No child has been poisoned by a stranger's goodies on Halloween, ever, as far as we can determine. Joel Best, a sociology professor at the University of Delaware, studied November newspapers from 1958 to the present, scouring them for any accounts of kids felled by felonious candy. And...he didn't find any. He did find one account of a boy poisoned by a Pixie Stix his father gave him. Dad did it for the insurance money and, Best says, he probably figured that so many kids are poisoned on Halloween, no one would notice one more.

Well, they did and dad was executed. That's Texas for you. Another boy died after he got into his uncle's heroin stash and relatives tried to make it look like he'd been killed by candy. And that's it.

Now look at how the fear that our nice, normal-seeming neighbors might actually be moppet-murdering psychopaths has turned the one kiddie independence day of the year into yet another excuse to micromanage childhood.

...

Our fears are so overblown they'd be laughable if they didn't sound so much like the fears that are haunting us the rest of the year. Fears that have lead to parents to wait with their kids at the school bus stop, and keep them inside on sunny afternoons. Fears that make parents forbid their kids from skipping down the street to invite a friend out to play. That's the everyday version of Halloween fear: The fear that we cannot trust our children amongst our neighbors for one single second because, who knows, they might be pedophiles just waiting to pounce.

..."